We hope you can join us for the 4th annual Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop at the Depot from 1 to 5 pm on Saturday, November 5.

Modeled after the International Snow Science Workshop, this event brings together avalanche professionals, experienced backcountry and sidecountry skiers and snowboarders, sledders, and those new to the game to take a closer look at the underbelly of the avalanche dragon. Join us to geek out on snow science, explore how we make high-risk decisions, and recreate and learn from some serious accidents from last year. This is great way to learn from the best our community has to offer and to hang out with a bunch of like-minded folks.

Admission is $25 for tickets purchased in advance online and $30 at the door if there are any seats left. Details, agenda, and ticket purchase info at http://utahavalanchecenter.org/usaw11-5-2011

Our staff has just come back on the payroll for the season and we are getting ready to start updating all of our normal winter products such as Avalanche Advisories, Avalanche Occurrences, Snowpits and Backcountry Observations. We will update the Avalanche Advisories on an "as needed" basis, dependent mostly upon weather conditions. We will shift to daily Avalanche Advisories once there is sufficient snow cover.

As of now, there is some snow that is still covering the ground on the higher elevation northerly aspects. Some faceting has occurred on the surface of this snow. For the most part, the remaining snow has lots of rocks poking through which doesn't make for the best smooth and congruous avalanche starting zones. However, there are some slopes that have enough snow smoothly covering a starting zone where the faceted snow, with the right additional load, could produce avalanches. Hardesty's quick report from yesterday illustrates the point -

In simple terms, there are spotty areas where a weak layer of snow has formed that could produce avalanches once we add more snow. We will have to wait and see.

We have a couple of weather systems "on deck". The first is a coldfront moving through as I type this morning. It should produce a few inches of snow. Any significant snowfall should taper off pretty quickly after the frontal passage. This system will cool temperatures off significantly, dropping into the teens along the ridges.

Temperatures stay fairly cool on Wednesday.

We'll see brief "ridging" or a break in the weather on Thursday with temperatures rebounding.

The next bigger system will effect our area Friday although weather models show this trough trying to split a little with a good portion of the energy diving south. It still should produce a bit more snow then the first storm.

Models indicate another system that will move through after the weekend.